Memorable Quotes and Dialog:

"Nick Bianco hadn't worked for a year. He had a record, a prison record. They say it shouldn't count against you. But when Nick tried to get a job, the same thing happened... So this is how Nick went Christmas shopping for his kids." (Opening narration, as Nick prepares to pull an armed robbery)

"I wouldn't give you the skin off a grape." (Tommy Udo to Assistant District Attorney D'Angelo)

"Your side of the fence is almost as dirty as mine." (Convict Nick Bianco, in the process of making a deal with Assistant District Attorney D'Angelo).

"I'm askin' you: where's that squealin' son of yours'" (Tommy Udo to Rizzo's wheelchair-bound mother, just before he pushes her down the stairs)

Entertainment Reviews:

USA Today - 12/14/1990
"...One of the best photographed examples of postwar 20th Century-Fox film noir..."

Entertainment Weekly - 12/09/2005
"Udo pushing a wheelchair-bound old lady down the stairs -- one of the most iconic moments in all noir -- is still chilling." -- Grade: B+

Sight and Sound - 11/01/2007
"This is quintessential film noir, hardboiled, vicious but with pathos and lyricism too."

Product Description:

A two bit thief (Mature) puts his family in untold danger when the district attorney convinces him to squeal on a fellow inmate at Sing Sing: the homicidal psychopath will stop at nothing to gain revenge. Academy Award Nominations: Best Supporting Actor--Richard Widmark, Best Original Story.

Plot Synopsis:

Two-time loser Nick Bianco is caught during an armed robbery and pressured by the Assistant District Attorney to squeal on his cohorts. Nick refuses, but after his wife commits suicide and his daughters are put in an orphanage, he relents and goes to work for the prosecutor. He gets paroled and straightens out his life, but when the D.A. needs him to roll over on Tommy Udo, Nick finds he has to deal with the psychopathic killer himself.